National
Security Advisor McMaster met with Venezuela's National Assembly
President Julio Borges at the White House yesterday afternoon. They
discussed the ongoing crisis in Venezuela and
the need for the government to adhere to the Venezuelan Constitution,
release political prisoners, respect the National Assembly, and hold
free and democratic elections. They agreed that there is a strong need
to bring the crisis to a quick and peaceful conclusion.

“I have had a chance to see the clip now and so, as we get
complaints — and we’ve gotten a number of them — we are going to take
the facts that we find and we are going to apply the law as it’s been
set out by the Supreme Court and other courts and we’ll take the
appropriate action,” Pai told Philadelphia’s Talk Radio 1210 WPHT.

“Traditionally, the agency has to decide, if it does find a
violation, what the appropriate remedy should be,” he continued. “A
fine, of some sort, is typically what we do.” Pai was appointed to the
FCC in 2012 by President Barack Obama. He was elevated to the
chairmanship of the commission by Trump in January.

Pai’s comments on Colbert are surprising as “The Late Show” airs
outside the FCC’s long-established “safe harbor” time frame of 6 am to
10 pm in which the commission has the authority to police allegations of
indecent and obscene material on the airwaves. They would also seem to
clash with Pai’s vow to maintain a lighter regulatory environment for
media overall.

A transgender woman found badly hurt,
apparently severely beaten, on a Manhattan sidewalk late last month has
died of her injuries, law enforcement sources close to the
investigation tell NBC 4 New York.

The
59-year-old woman was found with head trauma outside a Five Guys on
Seventh Avenue around 10:30 p.m. April 25. She was unconscious when she
was taken to Bellevue Hospital Center, where she died 10 days later, on
Thursday.

Speaking before a raucous union crowd on Friday in Manhattan, Gov.
Andrew Cuomo pledged New York will “lead the resistance and opposition”
against Republican-backed policies in Washington.

But the governor — who teasingly sidestepped chants that he run for
president — did not mention President Donald Trump’s name, choosing
instead to lambaste Republicans in Congress for efforts to repeal and
replace the Affordable Care Act and end state and local deductions on
the federal income tax.

Repeatedly in the speech, Cuomo referred to a “they” in Washington that wants to weaken unions and the middle class.

“New York is going to lead the resistance and opposition against what they’re doing in Washington, D.C.,” Cuomo said.

Cuomo held the event with the Hotel Trades Council ostensibly to
ceremonially sign legislation for state tax deductions for union dues.

But the governor launched into an extended critique of Republican
policies in Washington, saying they are trying to derail the labor
movement and the rights of unions to organize.

“Make it even worse, it’s not just the labor movement that’s being
attacked, the state of New York is being attacked by these forces in
Washington,” Cuomo said. “You see, we’re not their kind of people and
I’m proud of it.”

"Last month, New York State lost a
pioneering legal mind. We continue to mourn the passing of Judge
Abdus-Salaam, an exceptionally talented and beloved member of the
state’s highest court.

The Court of Appeals is a pillar of our
judicial system, and it is unacceptable for the court to go months
without a full bench.

"Today, I am calling on the Commission on
Judicial Nomination to accelerate the process to fill the new vacancy to
allow for the State Senate to take up confirmation before the
conclusion of this year’s legislative session at the end of June.”

The Flamingos are a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-inducted doo-wop group from the United States, most popular in the mid- to late 1950s and best known for their 1959 cover version of "I Only Have Eyes for You".

Billboard
magazine wrote: "Universally hailed as one of the finest and most
influential vocal groups in pop music history, the Flamingos defined doo-wop at its most elegant and sophisticated."

Civil rights leader Al Sharpton, state Sen. Leroy Comrie (D-St.
Albans) and Assemblyman Clyde Vanel (D-Cambria Heights) will be among
the many mourners expected at the funeral Saturday for four of the five
victims who died April 23 in a fast-moving house fire in Queens Village.

Managing the funeral is family member Sheener Bailey-Briggs.

“Everything happens for a reason, but I don’t know about this one,” Bailey-Briggs said.

A three-alarm fire took the lives of four family members and a friend
on a quiet Sunday afternoon in Queens Village when the frame house at
112-16 208th St. burst into flames. No calls were made from the house
and the Fire Department was alerted by a passing motorists six minutes
after the fire first broke out. The cause of the blaze was still under
investigation.

In just 90 seconds, Alton Sterling was dead, with three police bullets in his chest and three more in his back.

From the time the officers barked their first
orders to the crackle of their final gunshot— and Sterling's last breath
— a minute and a half had gone by. Each second of the fatal encounter
was captured on video for the world, and Sterling's family, to cringe
at.

In the 10 months since his death, Sterling's
name has been added to the long list of black men whose lives have been
taken under questionable circumstances by law enforcement. Fiery
protests have filled the streets. Politicians have invoked his name
while pushing for police reform. And the outpouring of support and love
for his family from well-wishers across the country has at times
overwhelmed them.

But what they've really wanted, prayed and fought for, is something more elusive— justice.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said Thursday he
welcomed the executive order. "We will be taking action in short order
to follow the President's instruction to safeguard the deeply held
religious beliefs of Americans who provide health insurance to their
employees," Price said in a brief statement.

An American service member was killed during a
gunfight in Somalia that also left two others injured late Thursday, a
U.S. defense official told NBC News.

The attackers were "neutralized" and the wounded service members were taken to neighboring Djibouti, the official added.

The U.S. service members were conducting an
operation with Somali Army Commandos to go after extremist group
al-Shabab when they were ambushed by fighters, a second U.S. military
official in the region told NBC News.

North Korea on Friday accused the U.S. and South Korean spy agencies of an unsuccessful assassination attempt on leader Kim Jong Un involving bio-chemical weapons.

In a statement carried on state media, North
Korea's Ministry of State Security said it will "ferret out and
mercilessly destroy" the "terrorists" in the CIA and South Korean
intelligence agency for targeting its supreme leadership.

North Korea frequently lambasts the United States and South Korea, but its accusation Friday was unusual in its detail.

The Brexit Secretary David Davis has told Question Time the European
Commission was "trying to bully the British people" with "deliberately
misleading briefing" after the dinner last week in which the Commission
President Jean Claude Juncker met the Prime Minister in Downing Street.

Bronx, NY - On Thursday, in response
to the passage of the American Health Care Act, New York State Assembly Member
and DNC Vice Chair Michael Blake released the following statement:

“The passage of the American Health Care
Act by House Republicans is a tragic betrayal of public trust. Today​, ​the
House acted irresponsibly by passing a bill that will lead to a loss of
coverage for 24 million people, raise costs and severely weaken coverage for
pre-existing conditions. It is inhumane and an international embarrassment by
Congressional Republicans to choose politics over saving lives. As a baby, ​I
was born with a heart murmur; my mother is a breast cancer survivor,​ and​ I
represent an Assembly District with a disproportionate number of residents
facing health inequities. It is personal when access to health care is denied
to those who are most vulnerable.

"Congressional Republicans continue to
play politics with the lives of close to 24 million Americans, and if this bill
becomes law, hundreds of thousands of people who have relied on the Affordable
Care Act to detect and treat serious illnesses will be at risk for more serious
illness and a more difficult quality of life. This is one of few instances
where the US Congress has shown a clear disregard for the welfare of American
people.

"Trumpcare is not a replacement for
Obamacare but rather a tax break for the top one percent disguised as an
attempt to lower costs while giving drug and insurance companies the bulk of
nearly $600 billion in new tax breaks. This bill eliminates the Affordable Care
Act's subsidies based on a person's income and cost of coverage and replaces
them with lower subsidies based mainly on a person's age. Currently, more than
80% of A.C.A. enrollees benefit from these subsidies. It loosens the age-band
so that insurance companies can charge older people at least five times more
than younger people. Equally despicable, it weakens the protections for those
with pre-existing conditions and especially targets women by denying
protections for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, C-section, and
postpartum depression.

"These are not the values of the American
people, and we must continue to hold our representatives in Congress
accountable. We must continue to make our voices heard and actions seen. As it
goes before the Senate, we must demand that our leaders shut this bill down.

​ ​

"Universal health care is a right, not a
privilege, and our leaders should act accordingly. Today ​reminds us ​why we must continue to​
#Resist and reject this unjust and unconscionable behavior by Congressional
Republicans. If they want to take away our health care, then​​ we should take
away their jobs in Congress.”

Reverend Al Sharpton, the national civil rights leader, radio and
television host, and founder and president of the National Action
Network (NAN), is emphatically disinterested in the nitty-gritty of
local politics and says that his support for New York City Mayor Bill de
Blasio is not unconditional.

Gotham Gazette sought comment from Sharpton on his relationship with
de Blasio, a first-term Democrat who is running for reelection this
year, and how he gauges the mayor’s leadership and record on police
reform, a focus issue for the reverend. When de Blasio came into office
in 2014, the two appeared especially close, but while de Blasio
continues to make appearances at NAN, there has been evidence of
distancing in recent years. Indeed, greater distance is something
Sharpton reinforced in a Tuesday interview with Gotham Gazette.

In an energetic 16-minute phone conversation, as he took a break from
recording his radio show, Sharpton explained his past support for the
mayor and the current dynamic between the two, while also refuting
analysis by political observers relayed to him by Gotham Gazette. Those
observers, long-time chroniclers of city politics, said Sharpton and de
Blasio’s relationship was one of mutual benefit, with Sharpton
maintaining both access to the mayor and distance enough from which to
criticize him. Meanwhile, Sharpton’s support for the mayor, multiple
experts argued, provides cover for the mayor’s record on police reform,
which many say has been less than satisfactory, while bolstering support
in the African-American community. At the same time, the perceived
daylight between the two allows de Blasio to maintain a better
relationship with the NYPD, many members, union leaders, and supporters
of which see Sharpton as an antagonist.

Albany - A group of Southern Tier landowners angered that the state closed the
door on natural gas hydrofracking is appealing to President Donald J.
Trump to end New York's authority over the issue.

Last week, the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York wrote to
President Trump urging that the federal government assert sole control
over gas pipeline projects, rather than allow states to retain
jurisdiction over required environmental protection permits.

The letter by coalition President Daniel Fitzsimmons said the
2014 decision by Gov. Andrew Cuomo was based on his "political
aspirations" and pushed by "well-funded environmental extremists."
Fitzsimmons also accused the governor of "illegally (taking) our private
property rights for his political gain."

The coalition claims to represent 70,000 property owners in the
Southern Tier who want to sell access to tens of thousands of acres in
the so-called Marcellus Shale region to natural gas companies to drill
and build a network of pipelines.

ALBANY – Police can routinely run license plate checks of motorists
even if they have no suspicion that any wrongdoing has been committed,
the state’s highest court ruled Thursday.

In a case involving a 2014 stop of a motorist by a SUNY Buffalo State
police officer in 2014, the Court of Appeals rejected an initial
Buffalo City Court ruling that dismissed a driving while intoxicated
arrest against a motorist pulled over in the circular driveway into the
Albright-Knox Art Gallery.

“To ensure the safety of our roads, a police officer may run a
license plate number through a government database to check for any
outstanding violations or suspensions on the registration of the
vehicle. We hold that such a check, even without any suspicion of
wrongdoing, is permissible, and does not constitute a search,’’ Chief
Judge Janet DiFiore wrote in the 6-0 decision upholding the charges
against motorist Andrew Bushey.

Donald Trump’s administration may have picked a fight with
leaders of the New York Police Department when Attorney General Jeff
Sessions called the city “soft on crime” last month. But Trump cast
himself as a friend to police officers on the campaign trail — and as he
returns to his overwhelmingly Democratic hometown of New York City for
the first time as president Thursday, some GOP officials say he’s got
plenty of friends on the force.

“They love him,” says Republican state Sen. Marty Golden, a
former cop who now represents Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, when asked what he
hears from police officers about Trump. “I was at a police function,
they went crazy.”

“There seems to be, regardless of what we see in the press ... an
overwhelming support among our law enforcement, and our military units,
for Donald Trump,” Golden says.

Thursday, May 4, 2017

An aviation school in Florida is honoring Trayvon Martin with a posthumous degree at its commencement this month.

Florida Memorial University, a historically black college, announced in a Facebook post Wednesday
that the 17-year-old, who was gunned down by a neighborhood watchman in
2012, will receive a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical science with a
concentration in flight education on May 13.

The
degree will honor the “steps he took during his young life toward
becoming a pilot.” His parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, will
accept the degree on his behalf.

The
university’s president, Roslyn Clark, said that awarding the posthumous
degree is important for the school and noted that Fulton is an alumna
of the HBCU. Click here for the full article. Source: The Huffington Post

Witnesses, including former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, testify
on the threat posed by electromagnetic pulse, a short burst of
electromagnetic energy which can damage electronic equipment, and the
development of weapons that create EMP.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (CA) and several of her colleagues
reacted to the passage of the Republican health care replacement bill
shortly after the vote. The Democratic leader reiterated her criticisms
of the legislation and said those Republicans who voted for it are now
on record and will be judged by the American people.

Dusty Byfuglien is an American professional ice hockey player currently playing and serving as an alternate captain for the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Drafted as a defenseman, he has played both forward and defense in his career, although he has generally played defense in recent years.

He played a major role in the Blackhawks' Stanley Cup winning season in 2010, scoring 11 goals with five assists in the playoffs, including three goals in the Finals. He was the first African American player to win a Stanley Cup.

In their first joint appearance since leaving
the White House, Barack Obama and Michelle Obama offered the first
glimpse of the planned Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.

President Obama said he and his wife chose to
locate the center in Chicago's South Side in an effort to give back to
the community that helped shape some of their most formative memories.
But Obama also stressed that he wanted to create a living hub for
political and social activism that would outlive him.

"The President's Executive Order is a
blatant and unabashed attempt to, among other things, attack the
fundamental right that women have to control their own health. Under the
guise of promoting free speech and protecting individual liberties, it
tramples on women's rights and undermines our values of freedom and
equality.

"As Washington seeks to limit the rights of
women, New York continues to protect them. New York has long-standing
protections against discrimination based on gender or personal choices
regarding family and health, including the first Human Rights Law in the
nation, and we will continue to stand up for the rights of all New
Yorkers.

"Earlier this year, my administration took
strong action to ensure that the full range of contraceptive drugs and
devices are covered by commercial health insurance policies without
co-pays, coinsurance, or deductibles. New York will remain a state where
all women have cost-free access to reproductive health care."

"Ultraconservatives in Washington
have pushed through the House an unconscionable piece of legislation that
threatens to tear apart our health care system. Far from improving our health
care, the Republican plan will strip millions of Americans of their coverage,
raise costs for the sick, the elderly, and those with pre-existing conditions,
and penalize progressive states that protect the rights of women.

"Sadly, some representatives in New York have sold their vote and turned
their backs on the very constituents they represent. This bill is a targeted
assault against our values, punishing New Yorkers because we support women's
reproductive rights and including the Collins/Faso amendment which would
devastate the state’s health care industry, put millions of New Yorkers at
risk, and increase the total cost of this bill on New York to $6.9 billion.

"Despite the vocal opposition of the American people, radical conservative
ideologues are still advancing a disastrous bill. I urge all Americans to call
their Senators and tell them to stand with the people they represent by voting
no on this reprehensible legislation."

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